i was just wondering if there is a way to ask the mods/admin on this site a generic question through pm without having to make a public question about an issue? i couldn't find a generic username that would let me pm mods in general. anyway, i wanted to know what happened to a post i made that i am very positive i made this post but it's not showing up? was i deleted? it was in the thread "anyone got a job?" that i started.

Any time you have a question feel free to PM any mod, and we are usually mre than happy to put you in contact with whichever mod may have removed your post (or find it for you if you just lost it).. I'll see what I can find.

EDIT: I don't see any posts of yours that were removed for any reason..

ah, i see it now. i guess the problem is that: 1) it's on the first page, long before the last comment i made and (2) the post doesn't show up as new, and my point for posting was to update the situation. i understand that you don't want a double post, but i guess i wonder how long between posts to be considered as a new post? the last post was two days ago, and the one you edited it into was two days before that.

I can understand how this would be a difficult scenaro to overcome ... you post something, then two days later have updated information you need to get across.

However, the threads are viewed in a manner of years and not days. Our effort is to keep the threads looking clean and uncluttered for reference purposes. This is why we ask our members to edit their last post instead of just hitting the reply key to the thread.

At the bottom of your last post, you'd just enter a phrase such as:

/Edit/

and add your followup/additional information below that.

As to contacting the staff in general via PM, simply address a PM to "Admins". We'll see it

well, i understand the editing feature, but if i want to update using the edit button, then the thread will still remain "old". i'm not trying to be confrontational about this, i just wonder what the benefits are of keeping the thread "old" even if i make 100 updates to the last post since most people will have stopped reading unless someone else posts in it after me. i'm not trying to boost my post count, since i know that is probably one of the main reasons you want us to edit. in this case i am trying to get the others who were on that thread an update, but if the thread remains "old" then i have no guarantee that they will read it unless i pm them that i updated.

We ran into this problem a few years ago, and the result was that the practice of 'bumping' a post by means of posting a reply to it was badly abused. We ended up with posts where the OP had his opening, followed by six or seven replies bumping the post back to the top of the page.

We were forced to outlaw such a practice.

Next, an OP would post his question but omit some information. If nobody replied by the time his post worked it's way to the bottom of the page, he simply replied to himself adding in the omitted information and thereby bumping his post back to the top of the heap.

We were forced to outlaw this practice as well.

I wish there was a workable answer to this problem, but there really isn't one other than the Original Poster deleting his thread and reposting it with the additional information. Of course, this will only work if nobody first replies to that thread.

What to you may seem reasonable is not to others. It happens that sometimes a question goes unanswered. After all people here are not paid to post. They are doing so voluntarily. May be an idea to keep that in mind

i totally understand what you're saying. i am a sometimes mod on another site so i know what goes into it. but i guess i felt like i had something to update that i thought the others who participated would like to know, but the way it came out with the editing keeps the others from knowing that anything has changed.

It indeed is a frustrating circumstance, but one which doesn't rise often ... possibly once in 800 posts. Therefore we have to side with the odds and disallow double-posting to keep our forums looking clean and professional.

Please know that posting edited information indeed is not a waste of your time since we have google hits and new members reading old messages constantly. You are helping the community by taking the extra step in updating your information. It may not seem immediately rewarding, but in the long run -- it benefits all.